Jaume Collet-Serra May Battle The Giant Squid To Direct Here There Be Monsters

Back in February, in the wake of the amazing success of Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol, it was thrilling to hear that director Brad Bird might be preparing another live-action film, taking over the sea monster project Here There Be Monsters that had originally been developed by Robert Zemeckis. The word back in February was merely that Bird was contemplating taking on the film, so I guess we can't be too surprise or disappointed that Bird seems just as quickly to have moved on.

Now the word at Vulture is that Jaume Collet-Serra, who made the thrillers Orphan and Unknown, is in negotiations to take over the project, with plans to offer the leading role to Bradley Cooper. Though the drama of the story revolves around a giant squid in the North Atlantic, Cooper would be playing real-life Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones. He gets stripped of his British naval commission-- consequence of fighting in the revolution against the Empire and all that-- and winds up investigating the disappearance of merchant ships, that are apparently the preferred snack of the giant squid who lives in the ocean.

Collet-Serra is planning to make some adjustments to the script, so it might be a while before Cooper commits, if he decides to join at all. And while Vulture mentions that the project might somehow get in the way of the Akira remake that Collet-Serra had been attached to direct, I imagine he might be eager to get away from that big mess and take on a project that's more original and most likely cheaper. Give how many directors have shuffled in and out of this sea monster epic, Collet-Serra might not be the most interesting or experienced, but he's a promising up-and-comer who might be just the guy we need to take on the giant squid once and for all.